Toms Romania Page Four

Moldavia

This northeastern province has a unique culture, and is only half of what was an entire kingdom in the 1400's. From it's fabled painted churches to it's pine forests, its vital folklore and music, Moldavia still retains it's links with the past.

right: Suceava County, northern Moldavia

The eastern border of Romanian Moldavia is the Prut River, which divides it from the Republic of Moldova to the east. The original province was cut in half along this river and "given" to the Russians after World War Two. Stalin then moved in Russians and artificially russified forty percent of the new "Soviet Socilaist Republic of Moldavia." Since 1989, Moldova has been independent, although their deteriorated economy makes Romania's look positively affluent. The presence of a sizeable Russian-speaking culture in the Republic of Moldova, and the fact it is now surrounded by an independent Ukraine makes unification with Romania impossible.

Moldavia's main cities are Iasi (prounounced "yash" and sometimes spelled "Jassy"), Suceava, Bacau, Roman, and Piatra-Neamt.

Moldavia's rich traditional music is distinct, and evolved from the same origins that Klezmer music did. Most of the Klezmorim who arrived in the US in the early 1900's came from the northerneastern Moldavian region of Bessarabia, where many Jews had settled in the 19th century, establishing communities, businesses and culture. Traditional Klezmer and Moldavian music share many of the same mournful harmonic and exotic melodic intervals.

right: a folklore troupe from Bacau, southern Moldavia. That kid on the right played a tiny whistle called a frula, and I heard him play a solo later that evening, accompanied by full orchestra, that blew the audience away.

Nestled in the forest of Bucovina is the famous painted church at Voronet, Moldavia's best-known treasure. Typical of the tiny wooden churches in this area, stories of the Bible were depicted for 15th century peasant audiences on the exterior frescoed walls. Although the north side is quite obliterated, the east side still looks as if it were painted yesterday.

An exquisite newly-built roadside shrine in Targu-Neamt, central Moldavia. The frescoes were immaculate and very well-done, and the ornate tin roof spectacular. Romania does get it's act together for some things!

Below: carpet made by the sisters of the Agapia Monastery, Neamt County, Moldavia. They raise the sheep, card and dye the wool, and create these magnificanet pieces of folk art.

Right: Fascinating 17th-century architecture in Vatra-Dornei, Bucovina, Moldavia. Constantin Brancoveanu (1688-1714) combined various elements into a unique and eclectic style which can be seen all over eastern Romania. Many such fine old buildings can be seen throughout Romania, often surrounded by hideous concrete Communist-era buildings.

Stephen the Great ("Stefan Cel Mare") ruled Moldavia for almost half a century (1457 - 1504) as a feudal princedom. Cultural life flourished, in spite of numerous wars with the Hungarians, the Austrians, the Russians and the Turks. Stephen commissioned the construction of many monasteries, churches and citadels, including the famous painted churches of Bucovina, Moldavia's northern region.

Left: Stephen the Great's Tower, 1463, Piatra-Nemat, central Moldavia. The building behind dates from much later, the 1700s! I took this picture in 1995, and except for the addition of a monstrous satelite dish antenna (which somehow intrudes on the otheriwse medieval character), it still looked this way when I was there last in 1997.

Right: downtown Piatra-Neamt, just around the corner from Stephen's tower. Communist-era urban development that was actually done with some attention to taste and to the comfort of those who would be moved in. In the background, the ever-spectacular Carpathian mountains.

far right: a newly built church in Targu-Neamt. This church's interior was covered on every surgface with freshly-painted frescoes, rivalling thebest of Grigorescu, presenting an astonishing contrast to most Romanian church interiors, which are gloomy with the centuries of candle soot.

immediate right: Lake Bicaz, created by daming a valley near the Mount Ceahlau. Rural life here still revolves around the farming chores which have changed little since the days of Stephen the Great. Hand tools and hporses are favored over power tools. After the dismal failure of Communist-era collectivized farming, Moldavian farmers seem pleased to be back with their 17th-century methods. The haystacks can be seen everywhere in the spring throughout Romanian, with those in Moldavia showing an upper storey supported by branches.

Lake Bicaz

Targu-Neamt